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I fully expect to top my p.b. of 5 pounds in about 9 months boys. Just found out today that I'm going to have a little fishing partner on the way. Whether it's a boy or a girl doesn't matter I.Just want healthy

I always felt that I didn't have the patience to fish a jig. I have issues I never really gave it a chance. I think I might have thrown a jig no more than 10 times my whole life. Fishing has been a little slow, not horrible by any means. But like 4 or 5 fish each time out. Had some luck last week with 4 and 5 pounders on swim bait and spinnerbait. Those are my go to baits. The spinnerbait is my confidence bait. When that isn't working or conditions aren't right, I throw a zoom swimbait. Well I was watching some YouTube videos on Cayuga. A bassmaster tournament also. They were jigging in 20 foot over grass. I didn't drive all the way to Cayuga because it's over a hour drive. So I went to Otisco instead. Probably better bass fishing than Cayuga anyways. Went to Wally world and bought some jigs Put a Havoc Rage craw on there and " Oh my Gosh " First of all I caught my personal best. 8.2lb 4 came in at 5 + And 2 at 4+ I was grinning from ear to ear. I hope 7 can sleap tonight because I am heading back out tomorrow with my new jig.

I primarily use car doors and ceiling fans to shorten mine from the other end.

Finally, a Bass Fishing Store in my local area that stocks some high quality baits, with an Owner who actually knows about bass fishing. I was able to pick up a few things I've been wanting for quite a while and haven't been able to find until now... WolfyBrandon

Hit the Potomac again this evening. Another 20+ fish, and my 2nd 18" Smallie in 2 weeks. So far this has been a fantastic year fishing for me, topped both my personal best for Largemouth and Smallmouth. Let's hope I catch these guys in the fall after they eat some more.

Finally caught one over 16" from this reservoir. Stats for this year- excluding this fish- are as follows. Maximum: 15" Average: 14" Minimum: 13" Standard Deviation: Very very low!

I think it is apparent that you NEED to fix this.....whatever that means. If you do NOT fix this, you will FOREVER wonder if you wouldn't have caught more bigger fish the day you used a spray-paint-smelling bait. You already have doubts...your mind is already toast about this and that's all that really matters.

Not hating the human that invented the Jet Ski ~ A-Jay

What I caught these fish on. Added music on this one so if you don't like Shinedown hit the mute button before playing. Watch in HD. I have a jig video coming up that has even bigger fish in it.

For you guys/gals that are newer to bass fishing, I want to give you a little input. You absolutely do not need to have the best fishing equipment on the market to catch a bass. Instead of spending beyond your means, just get the best that you can afford. Most of the equipment made nowdays is pretty decent so you will be just fine. JT Bagwell @BagwellFishing

I'm a beginner, never did any before, easier than u think, I just measured it up to one of my other rods, put tape around it, marked it & cut it with hacksaw, ordered a new butt cap & epoxy it on, if u do all this other hobby stuff, this will be easy for u

In the hard bait category ~ Several of the quality jerk / slash baits can be worked in this fashion. And a Real Sleeper is the Rapala X-Rap Sub-Walk. This bait has accounted for many a quality bass for me over the years. A-Jay

R2Sea S-Waver is a good choice, the LC Real Ayu looks good at $20. Tom

Any of you who are wanting to get rid of your DT cranks can send them on over to me!

Maine has some excellent bass fishin. Glad to see you got into a few. Last weekend Shane J and I fished a couple days in Maine. Fishing was good. We ended the weekend with 3 6's and a 5-11. We got a bunch of 4's and 3's. I think we landed around 65 bass for the weekend.

I prefer mono for all my treble hooked baits, especially poppers. I usually throw 12-15 lb pending on the cover, considering I love throwing them around laydowns prior to pitching into them.

I get my beard trimmed once a month. There's a fine line between a nice beard and looking homeless.

Second anything LIVE TARGET!!! Looks great but it repels fish. lol

With a couple of exceptions, I seldom use the most expensive baits and tackle out there and I catch my share of bass. Putting the bait in the right spot is the most important thing. A $30 bait where there are no fish won't catch a thing. Fish what you can afford.

Wanted to let you guys see the slobs I caught while I was up in Maine on vacation. 1st was 5lbs 4oz on Wooden Swimbaits Rat. Next went 5lbs 9oz on the CL8 Baby Possum. This giant came on a modified black hula popper.

Any lipless, rattle trap style lipless crankbait.

The tatula rods seem to be rated 1 power under. At least the ones that I've used so far. Also when going by lure specs. Up to 5/8 Ml = M Up to 3/4 M = Mh

Our bass club charges $50 for a nonboater fee. The fee is intended to help with the gas and oil costs for the boat and truck. Sometimes you use less than $50 in gas and oil towing and running your boat; other times you use over $100 towing and running the boat. Works out fine for us. My only complaint is the "back boating" the other guys do to the nonboater. It is embarrassing to see a boater in the front of the boat hog the good spots. On an outing on Buggs Island I went as a nonboater and my boater got upset with me as I had two nice ones in the well to his one. He was ticked off until he took a 5 to 4 lead late in the afternoon. On the Pamunkey River I made sure my nonboater got onto fish and had good angles to catch them. He finished two spots higher than me in the tournament and I am proud I did that for him. It was his highest finish and the first time he had a five fish limit. I have had two tournament winners fish out of the back of my boat and I am the only boater that can claim that in our club. The financial consideration is one thing; sportsmanship and fellowship is another that I believe is much more important.

My long time fishing partner has since relocated do to work a few years ago. Needless to say I've been restricted to the bank since. Anyone head out solo? or looking for an occasional tag along?

From now until the end of August we are having a huge sale. Items on sale are below. Mega Strike Rage Tail Strike King Keitech SOS Crankbait SO Shirts Owner MattLures

I would personally avoid the braid. I know some guys use it with swimbaits but I don't believe it to be a good choice. Check out the newest Shimano round reels, the 300 Calcutta D and 14/15 Conquest, they are much smaller than previous versions and palm well. The Conquest is one sweet reel and not too expensive if you buy from Japan.

Don't confuse Price with quality. In many cases one does reflect the other, but there are many quality fishing lures that I don't consider pricey. Then again, to me $8 for a crank, $7 for a spinnerbait, or $4.50 for a jig isn't pricey while to others they may be. A $4 crank that I need to switch out hooks and split rings, to me, isn't a bargain. Getting that $8 one for $6.49 is. Yes, that $4 crank will catch fish and a cheap set of socket wrenches will get the nut off of a bolt, but if you work on cars regularly, their ugly side becomes apparent in short order. In the long run, I believe you get what you pay for.

Totally agree probably a cichlid... Theyre a powerful fish pound for pound...

Rod lockers give you a much cleaner cut.

Cleaning out my garage and found this old Mepps spinnerbait. Its one of the first bass lures I owned. I'm going to put it back into action .

If he is even thinking about it he already has the genetic disorder. It's just been dormant.

I have one of those... the smaller size with a single blade. I have a couple of the old in-line baits they made, too. One is pretty large with a distinctly "catfish-looking" rigged ribber minnow on it. It was one of the "Giant Killer" baits they made for pike. When I was a young spin fisherman growing up on Lake George in NY about forty years ago, the Mepps in-line spinners were one of my favorites (along with the Eppinger Daredevil spoons and the old Heddon hard baits). I still have a ton of Mepps stuff in my ultralight tackle boxes. Tight lines, Bob

Some baits really are poor quality, but nothing wrong with the ones you mentioned - Strike-king and Booyah tend to be excellent quality for the price, and I think everyone should have a rebel craw and an arbogast jitterbug somewhere in the tackle box.

HEHEHE....Sounds about right Hoot Man...

Zeth, i live in oakland and fish most of the bay area reservoirs. Im looking for good ponds in the bay. Any suggestions??

Pete, might I suggest you try some of the smaller city lakes in your area? Try researching Fishing North Carolina, written by Michael S. Marsh. You wont be disappointed.

Must be some of that there Alabama Algebra

I LOVE IT!

Just got on with our local BPS here in town as a "local pro". Got a nice jersey, some commercial appearances, and opportunities to speak at store events locally and state wide. Also the other stores compete in tournaments on the east coast that I will be in too. Not to mention I get a little cash for speaking at seminars and some more store gift cards. They also provide me with about $1,500 a year in store allowance. Pretty excited. Feel like I got my "foot in the door" to be the next big PRO!!! lol :-)

Lipless cranks

I not only assume the bait fish are being attacked I can see they are. A screenshot only shows the instant it is taken. Stuff goes on continuously, it is sort of obvious. The only way to know specifically what the preditor/s is involves a catch or knowing what is in the body of water you see it happening. Being familiar with species, their likely locations, and how they relate to their food also will give you a clue to what they are. If you have Humminbird equipment like I do, you can use the FishID to show the larger preditors, like I did in the second, third, and fourth, screen shots. Other mfg do not have that feature to only assign the fish symbols based on air bladder sizes. Small bass will not get the symbols, neither will bushes, trees, or suspended matter. If you see the FishID symbols in crappie schools, those are NICE ones. Refer to the Screenshots topic above for more examples.

Well... Pick your priing point and you will get some GREAT advice. There are great values out there and no one has a lock on what might be "the best" for you. As a collector of "technique specific" rods and reels, my preference is different than yours. For strictly "fishing" I think anything in the $150- $200 range is the very best "value". That said, some of us are "collectores" and the pricing point is much different.

You could leash the rods to the Yak, and eliminate any floating device.

not me !! there are 15 different lines i'd choose before i'd spool up with that stuff , i tried it a long time ago and hated it , too springy and way too much stretch . Seriously , really don't know why you guys use that stuff , I'd go with P-Line products instead , just as cheap and a lot better .

Caught and released this Florida Trophy Catch Program fish today!

I like the Manns 1 minus, and the Baby X (baby X is a 1 minus with a square lip that dives to 2'), those are readily available. I have some discontinued Sebile Crankster SR 50 that are 1/4oz and they dive about 6" or so, they make a small wake when reeled slow but both largemouth and smallmouth seem to really like them. The others that I like have been mentioned, like the Bomber square A but one that wasn't and is new a little harder to find is the Bagley Rattlin' Kill'R B2, it isn't balsa, it is a plastic bait and on 10lb line it hits 3', the rattle is very low pitched and they deflect really well and most importantly they catch fish. Last, but not least, look at the Yo-Zuri 3DS series, the "S" means small, most baits run 1/4 to 1/2oz but the 3DS crankbaits are really good, I have the SR (shallow runner) versions in Holo bluegill and Tennessee shad and they aren't square bills but they deflect well and run great at high speed, the 3DS popper is something you will want to look at as well.

A pretty reliable general rule (at least for me) is that trebles require a little give to help keep the hooks buried. So, the give has to come in either the Rod or the line. Braid = no give, while mono and most copolymer = stretch. With rods: Moderate or moderate/fast = give, while Fast/XF = no give. Stiff rods with stretchy line or bendy Rod with no-stretch line... Either works. It's just preference. Personally, I like the benefit of casting distance I can get with braid, so I like having a Rod wih more give than stretchy line.

I have the 7'2" MHR and like it a lot. It has the right mix of power and action to be a very versatile rod for me.

I think it's a great rod for the money, I own 6 now and they have become my go too rods

i have the 6'10"MHF model and absolutely love it for swim jigs, buzzbaits and spinnerbaits.